Recent comments suggest he sees keeping access of the single market as just as important as ending the free movement of people.

Yet the so-called Three Brexiteers – Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox – and other cabinet ministers who voted to leave the EU have put greater emphasis on immigration controls.

This week it was claimed that differences between Mr Hammond and Mr Fox, the International Trade Secretary, over whether to stay in the customs unions were insurmountable.

Other Eurosceptics have hit out at Mr Hammond’s approach. One cabinet colleague told this newspaper he may face the sack if he continues "talking down" Britain's prospects after it leaves the EU.

His "relentless pessimism" has infuriated his colleagues who believe that Britain needs to take a positive approach to Brexit if it is to succeed, the minister said.

They added: "He still appears to be in a state of grief [over the referendum result], he should watch his back."

Another senior Tory MP hit out at Mr Hammond and Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor whose economic warnings over the impact of Brexit infuriated Eurosceptics.

“Philip Hammond and Mark Carney were part of Project Fear but are still in key positions. It’s clear that there will be element of the Conservative Party looking to see a more positive attitude towards Brexit," the MP said.

“The Tory Party is a broad church and it’s quite reasonable to have more reservations about Brexit but a clear direction is set - we are leaving the single market and making a success of it.

“There are people like George Osborne, Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan, who are feeling very bruised by the vote. Their only way back into politics is if Brexit is a disaster. Everything they say needs to be viewed through that prism.”

However the anger cuts both ways, with a senior Treasury figure expressing frustration with the way leading Eurosceptics portrayed the strength of Britain’s negotiating hand before the referendum.

The source said claims that the EU has more to lose than the UK is “garbage” and demanded leading Brexit supporters tell the public the “truth” about the negotiation position.

“The EU club sees a member heading for the door. Their priority is to kill them, or at the very least take off a leg, so others don't follow,” the source warned.

They added that Michael Gove and other leading Eurosceptics should warn votes about how hard talks will be, saying: "The obligation is on the Brexit leaders to now tell the British public some hard truths.”